Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Threat Is Mutual




What makes a college coach smile? It is seeing a quarterback who can run and throw the football. These players are better known as the dual threat quarterback. When you hear this term you think of guys like; Denard Robinson, Tyrell Prior, Jacory Harris, Tyrod Taylor, and Josh Nesbitt. All of these guys are spectacular athletes and good quarterbacks, but there is one thing that comes to mind that applies for most of the guys on this list. Inconsistency throwing the football. Denard Robinson is a pure runner he has gotten more accurate, as we saw Saturday with his 500 plus total yards. Tyrell Prior may be the most inconsistent on the list whenever Ohio State has a big game the question is posed, Which Tyrell Prior are we going to see? The one that hits his mark, or the one that throws 2 or 3 Int’s. He did play very well against Miami. Which brings me to Jacory Harris. He is the exact same as Prior. He did not have a good game against Ohio State, throwing 4 Int’s in a loss. Next there is Tyrod Taylor. The Hokies quarterback can be great with his arm. But when he is not, things do turn ugly. He tends to under throw a lot of his balls, and he lobs up to many jump balls. He did keep the Hokies in the game against Boise State, but under threw his deep balls most of the time. Then there is a guy like Josh Nesbitt. He is a bigger, stronger runner then most dual threat QB’s. It helps that he is in a system that can sometimes only run 5 or 6 passing plays a whole game. His arm is decent and he does usually hit his mark.

All that criticism aside, if you look back to 2005, 3 of the last 5 teams to win the national title have had dual threat quarterbacks. Florida won in 08, and 06 with Tim Tebow. In 06 Chirs Leak was the starter, and he and Tebow shared time in that game. And Texas won in 05 with that memorable Rose Bowl victory with Vince Young as quarterback. The NFL type QB’s do not always win the national title. These running quarterbacks can also take teams very far.

There is a downside to players who have this tendency to run. They can sometimes be injury prone. This makes sense due to the fact they repeatedly hurl themselves at linebackers and other defensive players. If these guys hope to make it to the next level, they have to develop consistency with their arms. In the NFL if you run into one of those defenses and start getting hit by guys like Ray Lewis, you are going to have a very short and unsuccessful career in the league.-Josh Neighbors

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